경찰, 최근 3년 종결 실종사건 31만건 전수점검…‘비대면 종결’ 금지

For the past three years, law enforcement has been conducting a thorough examination of approximately 310,000 concluded missing persons cases in South Korea. According to a report submitted to the Ministry of Government Legislation, the police are focusing on suspicious cases of remote conclusion and potentially false or inadequate handling.

During the investigation, any improper handling will be immediately re-investigated, and the city and provincial police will check the handling of each concluded case weekly, and if necessary, order a re-investigation. The examination is scheduled to be completed by November. To prevent the practice of concluding cases without directly verifying the safety of the missing person, the police are strictly prohibiting remote conclusion.

When it is difficult for the on-duty police officer to personally verify the location of the missing person in person, the police office in the jurisdiction of the missing person's residence will be authorized to perform the in-person verification. The police will also establish a "Missing Person Profiling System" to review the approval process for concluding cases, with managers needing to consider the method of in-person verification, identification checks, and objective safety verification data before approving the conclusion.

The police are currently reviewing a system to automatically notify the reporter via text message based on the case stage (receipt, progress, conclusion). Additionally, the police are reviewing the daily inspection meetings of police station directors to directly verify the adequacy of processing for each received missing person report.

To address the concern of insufficient response in cases handled after hours and on holidays, the police will establish a system where at least two officers are assigned to work during these times. The police are also planning to adjust the manpower and work system, including increasing the number of officers in the night and special teams, to thoroughly revise the missing person investigation system.

Furthermore, the police plan to introduce a random selection system for case assignments to ensure fairness, and to deploy external legal experts to monitor and improve the handling process of case files.